Switch-throwing device.



No. 822,230. PATENTED MAY 29, 1906.

T. J. OOLBURN. SWITCH THRO'WING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED 00127, 1905.

2 SHEETB-SHEET 1.

Witnesses attuncqd.

No. 822,230. PATENTED MAY 29, 1906'. T. J. COLBURN.

SWITCH THROWING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.27, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 2.

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L W1 W1 [mm- H W 2L1 i 7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS J; COLBURN, OF-ARGENTA, ARKANSAS. i

I SWITCH-THROWING DEV-ICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 29, 1906.1

Application filed October 27. 1905. Serial No. 284,713.

To all whom it may concern;-

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. OQLBURN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Argenta, in the county of Pulaski, State of Ar kansas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Switch-Throwing Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and ed out in the appendedclaims, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion, size,and minor details may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of theinvention.

Inthe drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation includingthe front portionof a car, the dotted lines showing the lowered position of theswitch-throwing rod. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of theswitch-throwing device.

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view illustrating the connection of theshort stub in the switchthrowing rod. Fig. 4 is a detail view of aswitch.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, thereference charac ter 1 designates a portion of the front of a car, theplatform thereof having an opening 2 therein in which is fitted a casing3. This casing projects above and below the platform of the car and isprevented from falling through the opening in which it is mounted byreason of a flange 4, formed integrally with the cylinder or casing 3for engagement with the upper face of the platform, as shown.

An operating-rod 6 is mounted for sliding movement within the casing 3and is provided at its lower end with a blade 7, de-

signed to contact with the-tongue 8 of the switch-for the purpose ofdirecting the car straight ahead or round a curve at a switch withoutnecessitating the motorman or conductor leaving the car. Thisoperating-rod 6 is held normally within the casing with its blade 7contacting with the lower end of the casing through the instrumentalityof a heli cal spring 9, which surrounds the operatingrod within thecasing.

Formed in the upper end of the casing is a longitudinal slot 10,provided with a notch 11 at its lower end. A stub 12 is screwthreadedfor engagement With the operatingrod' 6 near its upper end forengagement in the slot 10 for guiding the operating-rod in its verticalmovement, andthe notch 11 is provided at the end of the slot for thepurpose of permitting the stub 12 to be turned thereinto by operatingthe handle 13, so that the blade 7 of the operating-rod may be held inits lowered position for engagement with the tongue 8 of the switch. Itwill thus be seen that the stub 12 is detachable, so that in the eventof breakage it may be readily replaced by a new one.

From the foregoing'it will be understood that the purpose of theinvention is to operate switches without necessitating the motorman orconductor leaving the car and that when the switch is approached itissimply necessary to grasp the handle 13 of the operating-rod 6 and forcethe latter downwardly until the stub 12 reaches the notch 11, when thehandle is twisted slightly, throwing the switch and preventing upwardmovement of the operating-rod until the handle is turned in the reversedirection, when the aforesaid helical spring will automatically lift theoperating-rod to its normal position.

What is claimed is- 1. The combinationwith a car including a frontplatform, having an opening therethrough, a casing mounted in saidopening and projecting above and beneath the platform and provided witha collar for engagement with the upper face of the platform, anoperating-rod mounted within the casing and provided with a plate foroperating the switch, said casinghaving alongitudinal slot arranged inits upper end and communicating with a notch in the casing, theaforesaid operatingrod having a screw-threaded recess therein, a stubhaving screw-threaded engagement in said recess for operation in saidslot and notch, and a helical spring surroundin the operating-rod withinsaid casing to ho'l the rod normally in its elevated position.

2. A switch-throwing device comprising a casing having a slot arrangedlongitudinally thereof and cornmunicatin with a notch'of the casing, anoperating-r0 mountedfor sliding movement within the casing and having ascrew-threaded recess, a stub having screwthreaded engagement in saidrecess for cooperation with said slot and notch to guide the rod in itssliding movement and to hold it in its downward position, and a helicalspring surroundin the rod within the casing to lift the rod an hold itnormally in its upper po I5 THOMAS J. COLBURN. Witnesses M. E. VINSON,J. SLATER.

